Vlade Divac made a key steal and hit a free throw with 2.6
seconds remaining, lifting the Charlotte Hornets to their fourth
consecutive win, 95-94 over the Indiana Pacers.

With the score tied 94-94, Divac, who finished with 18 points
and nine rebounds, stole the ball from Jalen Rose with 23
seconds remaining. He was fouled by Rose at the other end and
hit the first of two free throws.

Indiana had another possession, but Rose's inbounds pass went
through Mark Jackson's hands and the buzzer sounded, giving the
Hornets their eighth win in nine games.

"I probably made a mistake and should have taken a 20-second
timeout," Indiana coach Larry Bird said. "They took a delay of
game and (Charlotte coach Dave) Cowens made an adjustment
defensively where they covered (Fred) Hoiberg."

Glen Rice scored 22 points and Bobby Phills and Dell Curry each
added 18 for the Hornets, who have beaten the Pacers four
straight times. Anthony Mason had seven rebounds and six
assists.

"It's hard to get anything going when the action is stopped all
the time. Mase (Mason) made an awful big free throw at the
end," Cowens said. "We gutted one out. We're playing all these
teams in our division; the Central is the best in the NBA.
We've been running more and the guys decided they didn't want to
lose."

Reggie Miller scored 23 points, making all 13 of his free
throws, to lead Indiana, which had its three-game winning streak
snapped. Rik Smits chipped in with 19 points and Dale Davis
grabbed 11 rebounds.

"It was a tough loss, especially at home where you want to go
out and establish yourself. But we got in a hole early," said
Bird. "I knew at halftime we had a chance to get back in it and
we did. We took the lead, but blew it at the end. We didn't
play well, no question about it."

Charlotte led 57-45 at the half and stretched its lead to 18
points, 67-49, with 6:48 left in the third quarter on a 17-foot
jumper by B.J. Armstrong.

Indiana made its move in the fourth quarter after Rice's jumper
gave Charlotte an 83-72 lead with 7:39 remaining. The Pacers
went on a 15-4 run in a little under four minutes, with Miller's
jumper tying it 87-87 with 3:48 left.

Miller had nine free throws and two jumpers in the burst,
scoring 12 straight Indiana points.

After Miller tied it, he committed his sixth foul with 3:30
left. Tony Farmer's two free throws gave the Hornets an 89-87
lead.

"It would have been nice to have had Reggie in there at the end,
because he was on a roll," said Smits.

The Pacers responded by scoring five of the next seven points,
capped by a pair of free throws by Hoiberg, for a 94-91 lead
with 1:05 remaining.

"With a team like that, when you get them down, you've got to
put them away," said Mason. "We let them back in the game and
made a lot of mistakes down the stretch. We knew they would
make a run at the end and just gutted it out."